Retirement home

Brent and Diane the navigators invited Mich and I to attend a get together at a retirement home yesterday. I was excited to go but had mixed feelings by the end of the evening, not about being there but the events that took place as I will let you know.
I met quite a few grandma's, some were still very fun and stylish while others were a little grampy.
It was organised so that the international students could spend sometime with the old ladies and share a little bit about their country.
We had internationals from Taiwan, Japan, Ukraine,China and Liberia. I was given a slot to talk about Uganda and I thought that was tough, I have taken for granted the things that happen at home, somehow I got so used to seeing things a certain way that it became normal. Maybe that sounds a little silly considering that I have been away from home for a while and noticed the differences in culture and style. Never the less I planned out a few of the things I thought I would mention and waited for my turn. This is when Mich gets restless, he starts running up and down the corridor while some one was giving a speech and that was very disruptive, I tried to talk him out of it but he just wasn't listening. Then he run up to the Piano and the blood rushed out of my head, I almost broke out in sweat praying that he wouldn't play any keys. Well he pressed a few keys but God certainly heard my prayer because it didn't sound. I pick him up and carried him out of the room for a one on one session and he is shaking and screaming. Not long before that I saw one of the old ladies give me this look of "get a hold of your little boy and do something with him because quite frankly he is really making me mad". Oh my! that look sent chills down my spine then she seemed to say something under her breath. Granma's are the last people you want to upset, I have so much respect for them, I also know that they are special people in God's eyes and their prayers are powerful, so really there was a lot to deal with. Not forgetting the fact that I'm still feeling "new" in the place and not quite sure how they would react to me.
Mich and I had a good talk outside, a few tears where shade but by the time we were heading back to the room we had set the record straight. It was now my turn to talk and I still wasn't over Mich's behaviour, I was embarrased and flushed, thankfully being as dark skinned as I am it didn't show. My speech was very sketchy, I had a lot of random thoughts. I started by introducing myself, what I was doing in Philly and apologized for Mich's crazy behaviour. Then I talked about how green Uganda is (the pearl of Africa), how we are very community oriented (it takes a village to raise a child mentality), I don't know how that came up but I guess it had something to do with Mich. I talked about our means of transport, my family and that was it, my mind was blank, terrible situation to be I tell you. At question time I was asked what holidays we celebrated and I could only remember five. Later on, talking to Brent and Diane they said I did a great job, I thought they were just being nice but I guess if they said so it wasn't so bad, I was just overwhelmed at how thrown off I felt.
After the session we had a time to give out some goodies to the granmas' and take a few pictures.

Poison Ivy??

Yesterday Mich got up from his afternoon nap with a swollen eye and was scratching himself very intently. That was a bit of a surprise, it wasn't swollen before he went to bed and he didn't seem to notice the difference. I checked his bed to see if there could have been an insect that bit him but there was nothing. Immediately my mind went back to the play ground he had been at just before, apparently there is a poison ivy plant there and Mich had been by it but only briefly, I panicked.
Poison Ivy is a very dangerous plant that has some kind of sap that is poisonous and if you get in contact with it you are basically in big trouble. It causes a very itchy rash, swellings on the body, sometimes a fever and it takes a week or so to cure. He had some of the symptoms, the itching and a little bit of swelling over the areas he scratched but there were no cuts or open sores. Before I knew it he had taken off all his clothes and was scratching himself all over. I told Sam about it and he suggested I buy hydro-cortisone from the pharmacy, it helps cool down the itching. I got it and smeared it all over Mich's body, it would be very itchy and then after a while he would forget about it and play. At some point during the itching he said "mummy, I'm not well", I agreed and explained to him what I thought had happened and what the cream was for, then he asked "how about crying?". In the midst of this I couldn't help but laugh, I told him that this time crying might not help much. I prayed over him very fervently, I prayed that it wasn't poison ivy and asked God to heal him knowing that God is the doctor of all doctors.
I thought if this was poison ivy it would be important to take all that he was putting on and wash it in order to prevent further contamination only I couldn't find his pants.
We spent the night together, I tried to console him, help him scratch and put some more cream on him in the middle of the night. Things got better and he slept. In the morning I asked him how he was feeling and he said he was fine and that he had scratched the sickness away. I didn't want to take chances thought, I mean I still wasn't sure if it was poison ivy or not so I called up one of my friends and she gave me some very useful insights, what cream is best recommended, the number of the university hospital and also the number of her paediatrician. While Mich seems fine now I certainly have to sort out my medical coverage and get him to see a doctor not just for this time but whenever something else comes up. Would you call that a mixture of faith and works?
By the way I found his pants today in the most weird place, in his toilet bowl. I think he wanted to get rid of them, hmmm!

I'm so unfit

Sam has been home all day for the past two days and that has been really nice, he is preparing for exams which start today (he is actually in the marketing exam right now). I thought since he was home it would be a good opportunity for me to go jogging, Mich didn't have a problem with that. I set out and in no time I was panting, I felt so heavy, my whole body was shaking, it kind of felt like with each step I took the earth shook, it probably didn't but I sure felt like I was making a dent every where I stepped. I realised that taking shorter steps and moving a little slower would keep me going for a longer distance.
I was glad that people on the streets were minding their own business and no one was staring or whistling at me. Back home it was very easy to get intimidated, the areas that one could jog through with ease were limited, there were always idlers standing by the road amazed at the fact that a woman was jogging. At times guys would whistle, call you names or in more hillarious circumstances jog along for a few metres. If you are like me, you chill the jogging and try dieting or just resign and let the love handles pile on.
Anyway by the time I got back I was really feeling energised, I had only run for 30 minutes and yet it felt like I had been on a marathon. After taking a bath, I felt refreshed and rejunivated, it was worth it all, even my brain was more alert. I guess thats why it's recommended to jog early in the morning. You have amazing energy after a work out, if you are working and have a presentation, you would leave your colleagues awed with your ideas. If you are a stay home mom like me then your little ones would be exhausted by the end of the morning seeing as they wouldn't be able to out do you. I hope I can do this on a regular basis.

Linvilla Orchards

It was quite a busy day today, the kids club organised a trip to the Linvilla Orchards.
It's a 300-acre farm dedicated to agriculture,
entertainment and education, it's a farm market, bakery and pumpkinland.

Certainly lots of fun for kids, it has lots of interesting sceneries, scare crows, legends about the harvest season and many stories about pumpkins and apples.
The people at the farm tell the children how the different crops are grown and processed. It's got apples, berries, pumpkins,peaches, maize, tomatoes, figs to name but a few. For the first time I got to know that apples had names. I had only known them by their colours green, red and gold.
We also took a hayride through the fields and orchards.





I was so excited by all the things I was seeing, at some point I put down my bag and forgot it there. I remembered a while later that I had actually come with a bag, I certainly panicked. I run round the pumpkins hoping to find my bag where I had left it but it was gone. Then my friend suggested that we check with the shop near by and for sure it was there. Some one had picked it and taken it to them hoping the owner would go and claim it. Is that cool or what?! I certainly know in UG the bag and all it's contents would be history.

Mich at the Zoo

We visited the Philadelphia Zoo, it was so much fun and learning for both of us. I'm glad I took Mich, now he knows the names of animals just by looking at them and by the sounds that they make.
My personal favourite was the Lion, talk about being in charge, having self confidence and knowing that he looks good.




.

It was all good

I was so glad that I made it to church yesterday and was part of the worship team. I had a great time in God's presence, I loved the songs, all of which are on my list of favourites. There was no sermon as such but one of the church members shared her testimony and that was awesome. I got asked once or twice if I was fine now, 'no more headaches?', "I'm cool" that was just a one off. I actually discovered that my headache was a result of fatigue, I took Mich to the zoo that saturday and we spent a lot of time moving around. I got Mich something to eat and forgot I needed some energy too, so by the end of the day my body couldn't take it anymore.

Cell group was great too, it was certainly larger this time, from about 8 to 13 that meant the number of children increased too. The first meeting had Mich and Ian, this time round it was Mich, Ian, Elizabeth,Andrew and 2 babies. There was absolute chaos at the beginning, I think they were shocked to see all the other little faces on what they considered their turf. There was lots of pulling of toys, pushing, and crying to say the least. What made it worse was the fact that they were all meant to play together in a small room. So while the adults settled down to study we could hear wails on the other side, I felt for the baby sitter. Everytime one of the parents went in to console their little one the crying increased. I thought this wasn't going to work but what do you know?, after a while they calmed down and played together so by the time cell was through none of them wanted to leave.

Pictures from some school activities

A picture is worth a thousand words.